1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate to an electric device for changing a demand response (DR) control level so as to adjust power consumption, and a power management apparatus for controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of Information Technology (IT), the number of household appliances powered by electricity is rapidly increasing, in turn leading to increased power consumption. In order to satisfy such increased power demand, the number of power plants is rapidly increasing. However, as can be seen from a power demand pattern, peak capacity is not reached during most days of the year, that is to say, power plants only operate at full capacity during a few days out of the year.
A state in which a high power demand is required for a short time is called peak load. Construction costs for adding an additional power plant to the grid are extremely high and maintenance costs for power plants constructed to maintain peak load for a short period are considerable.
Recently, numerous developers are conducting intensive research into a demand management method for temporarily restricting power consumption by limiting peak load without constructing such additional power plants. For the aforementioned purposes, demand management is a focus of attention, and a great deal of research is focused upon an advanced demand management format for demand response (DR).
DR is a system for intelligently managing energy consumption depending upon variation in power rates. For example, the consumer may temporarily stop operating an air-conditioner so as to reduce power consumption when power rates are high.
By means of the DR, a power-supply source can alter end user power consumption to achieve load balancing and can restrict end user power consumption to periods when demand is low, thereby reducing the user's overall energy expenditure.
Therefore, an electric device to which demand response (DR) is applied has been developed. The electric device receives real-time power rate information from the power-supply source or the power provider, and is turned on or off in response to the received power rate information.
Meanwhile, since the conventional power management system is unable to change or establish a DR control level acting as a start level of DR control, power saving control is achieved only at a predetermined price level, and it is impossible for the conventional power management system to perform the power saving control at another price level. In other words, the conventional power management system can control the DR when the power price reaches a predetermined power price level.
Therefore, the conventional power management system can only provide the current power price level information, and does not provide information regarding a DR control level at which power saving control starts operation. In addition, although each electric device is designed to perform DR control at different price levels not predetermined price levels appropriate for individual electric devices, the conventional power management system is unable to change a DR control level predetermined when the product is manufactured. As a result, although a user desires to normally operate the electric device, the user is unable to normally operate the electric device, resulting in inconvenience.